premature. Her companions gave discernible signs of recognising the
passages of comedy; yet Wayworth forgave her even then for being
inexpressive. She evidently wished before everything else to be
simply sure of what it was all about.

He was more surprised even than at the revelation of the scale on
which Mr. Loder was ready to proceed by the discovery that some of
the actors didn't like their parts, and his heart sank as he asked
himself what he could possibly do with them if they were going to be
so stupid. This was the first of his disappointments; somehow he had
expected every individual to become instantly and gratefully
conscious of a rare opportunity, and from the moment such a
calculation failed he was at sea, or mindful at any rate that more
disappointments would come. It was impossible to make out what the
manager liked or disliked; no judgment, no comment escaped him; his
acceptance of the play and his views about the way it should be
mounted had apparently converted him into a veiled and shrouded
figure. Wayworth was able to grasp the idea that they would all move
now in a higher and sharper air than that of compliment and
confidence. When he talked with Violet Grey after the reading he
gathered that she was really rather crude: what better proof of it
could there be than her failure to break out instantly with an
expression of delight about her great chance? This reserve, however,
had evidently nothing to do with high pretensions; she had no wish to
make him feel that a person of her eminence was superior to easy
raptures. He guessed, after a little, that she was puzzled and even
somewhat frightened--to a certain extent she had not understood.
Nothing could appeal to him more than the opportunity to clear up her
difficulties, in the course of the examination of which he quickly
discovered that, so far as she HAD understood, she had understood